


Lightning Strikes

by oceania



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Burns, Fire, First Time, Hospitalization, Hurt Danny "Danno" Williams, M/M, dog injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-10 19:46:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5598568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceania/pseuds/oceania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's house catches fire.  He is severely injured.  All will be well. No one dies but if you are triggered by fire, burns or dogs in peril (not hurt), I would give this a pass.  House fires from lightning strikes are not uncommon in Hawaii.</p><p>Much appreciation is owed to JusteAmusant and Ivy Cross for their beta work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure whether I should continue this fic or leave it at three chapters. I would love your input.

Danny and his children huddled inside the Camaro and watched their little bungalow burn; only the rain had saved them. Or rather, the thunder.  
**********************************  


The proximity of the lightning had shaken the house with such ferocity that both kids had run into Danny’s bedroom to huddle under his blankets. None of them enjoyed storms and this particular one with its massive forked lightning was particularly intense.  


The thunder was horrendous and Danny had been amazed to see a number of trees ablaze in the neighbourhood when he closed the shutters against the pelting rain.  


“Come on you two,” he cajoled. “Let’s try to get some rest.  


“Seriously?” Grace snarked as only a fourteen year old girl could. “Are you loco?”  


“Danno loco moco,” mimicked Charlie.  


“No Charlie, Danno is cray-cray. He’s not loco-moco. That’s just stupid.”  


“Danno, Gwacie called me the S word!” Charlie whined.  


“Grace! Apologize!” Danny scolded. “Charlie is not the S word! And he absolutely is not squishy either! Are you little man?” Danny tickled Charlie’s tummy until the toddler was giggling hysterically.  


“Oh please, would you two just stop being so immature? Gawd!” Grace rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.  


“Charlie, let’s see if Grace is squishy!”  
Charlie jumped on his sister and began to tickle her ineffectively. 

“Oh for Pete’s sake!” sighed Grace but she just grabbed her baby brother and hugged him close. “Sorry okay? I give up!”  


The three of them collapsed in spasms of laughter and despite the thunder, fell into a fitful sleep.  
*************************************  


Danny awoke the moment before the whole house exploded. The room began to fill with thick black smoke and Danny scrambled from the bed to slam the door against what he quickly recognized as a large fire consuming his home. “Holy hell!” he screamed and threw open the shutters and kicked the screen out. “Grace—climb out; I’ll hand you Charlie!” He had just enough time to grab his keys and jump out the window before another bolt of lightning struck their roof and the rest of the house was ablaze.  


“Come on!” he shouted, picking up Charlie and pulling Grace by the hand. He ran towards the car and shoved the kids inside before jumping in and quickly pulling to the other side of the street, several houses up. Danny was relieved to hear sirens approaching, and he smiled shakily at his children, “We’re safe and the firemen are almost here.”  


“Firetwucks!” Charlie shouted excitedly as the engines rounded the corner.  


“Daddy? Where’s Buddy?” Grace sobbed, referring to their dog.  


Danny sprang out of the car into the pelting rain and ran back towards the house. “Buddy? Buddy! Come on boy!” Borderline hysterical by this point, Danny was quickly succumbing to fear and shock. He raced to the front of the house, convinced he could hear barking. And there in the front window, through the smoke, he could see the face of the raggedy dog he had adopted four years ago. “Holdonholdonholdon” he shouted. He picked up a rock from the garden and hurled it at the window.  


The backdraft knocked him back several feet and he wound up in the garden with an enthusiastic, yet badly singed dog, lapping feebly at his hand.  
********************************  


“Over here!” He heard a deep voice shouting. “Jesus Christ man, what the hell were you thinking?” Danny opened his eyes and spluttered against the rain.  


“Saving my dog.” He struggled to his feet and headed towards the car. “My kids…” he offered the fire fighter as explanation. “My kids….”  


“Are they still inside sir?” Danny could hear the fear in the other man’s voice.  


“No, I put them in the car.” Danny was becoming vaguely aware that he was in pain.  


“Where?”  


“Camaro---over there---“ Danny raised his hand to point.  


“We’ll get them sir. You’re hurt. We need to get you in the ambulance now.”  


“Steve—call…..”


	2. The Agony

Danny was dimly aware that he was no longer standing barefoot in the rain.  Something was over his face and he might have even believed he was dead if not for the searing pain surging through him.  _Fire, I’m on fire!”_  

“My kids!” he tried to scream, but his voice was barely audible, “Grace, Charlie!” he croaked and then began coughing.

“Danny, Danny…” Steve’s voice was somewhere close.  “It’s okay.  Kono has them.”  Steve gently replaced the oxygen mask that Danny had torn loose.

“Rach?”

“Rachel? Um Danny, Rachel‘s in England.”

“Wha?”  Danny shook his head as if to clear it. “Oh yeah, she…”

“Left Stan and gave you full custody. That was a while ago D.”  Danny tried to sit up and began tugging at the mask again but Steve held it firm.  “Danny, you need to relax.  I’ll take care of everything. You just rest.”

“Call her?”

Steve grimaced. His feelings of loathing were clear if Danny had been looking.  “Okay.  Just rest babe. Please?”

“Hurt,” Danny sobbed and began to cough again.

“I’ll get you someone.”

The last thing Danny was aware of was a warming sensation in his veins and then he was mercifully asleep.

***************************************

 _Time_.  _What the hell time was it_? Danny thought as he surfaced.  He moved his head to the side as if to check his clock radio. Searing pain.  _Fucking_ _hell_.  “Steve?”

“Hey Danno, you’re awake!” Steve was there at his side in an instant. “How you doing buddy? You need anything?”

Danny became aware that he was no longer wearing an oxygen mask, and slowly opened his eyes.  Steve however, was decked out in full scrubs and a surgical mask. _What the hell_?  “I’m thirsty.”

Steve quickly offered up a cup. “Ice chips, my liege,” he joked.

“How long I been here?”

 “Ten days.”

“What the actual hell Steve?”

“Danny, you’re hurt.  You were in so much pain. They kept you out of it.”  Steve gently squeezed Danny’s thigh in reassurance. “You had me—um, us all--, pretty scared for a few days.”  Steve cleared his throat and sniffled under his protective mask.  “I’m—“

“The kids.  Grace and Charlie, where are they?”

“With Kono still. I have the dog, now that he’s better.”

“Buddy? Is he badly hurt?”

“Nah, just a bit scruffier and he’s still coughing up stuff but he’s okay.”

“What about me?”

“You’re going to be fine D.” Steve didn’t look very convinced.

“You are a bad liar.  What’s with the surgical get up anyway?”

“Infection is still a possibility.”

Danny looked shocked. “I thought I just hurt my leg.”

Steve took the chair and sat down next to the bed. “It’s a lot worse than that.  The fire burned your face, and arms and…”

Danny laughed ruefully, “My dad is so gonna kill me.”

“Why?”

“Backdraft.  Fucking backdraft.  I knew better.”

“Yeah. Well, there were a lot of lacerations from the exploding glass too.”

Danny raised his arms and took note of the bandages.  “Jesus fuck.”  His torso was similarly bandaged but he made note of one area that had a 10 inch gash with massive numbers of staples.  “Please tell me that I still have all my organs?”

“Oh yeah, it’s just a slice, not an impalement.”

“Well, thank God for small miracles.”

“Danny, um…you lost a couple of fingers.  They could only find the one. They were able to reattach it though.”

“Left hand I hope.”

“Pinky on the right.”

“Still have my trigger finger, babe?” Danny tried to joke but he was beginning to feel very ill.

Steve absently stroked Danny’s thigh.   

“What aren’t you telling me Steven?”

Steve looked at the floor before looking at Danny sorrowfully, his eyes welling with tears.  “And, your face….”

Danny reached up with his bandaged hands but Steve grabbed both carefully.  “DO NOT TOUCH!” he barked.

“Jesus Steve, what the fuck?”

“It’s important that you not touch the skin on your face…it’s bad Danno.  It’s just—“

Danny swallowed against the bile that was filling his mouth.  He closed his eyes.  “Get me a mirror NOW!”


	3. The Beginning

Danny’s face had mostly second degree burns which had responded well to conventional treatments but one patch on his right cheek had been very badly burned.  It required debridement and two skin grafts.  Steve had listened to Danny moan in agony each time his wounds were redressed.  He’d stand silently outside the door, tears flowing freely, unable to comfort his friend.

Each time, when he’d finally been allowed back in the room, Danny would be asleep.  This went on for two weeks.  Now, in addition to the wounds he’d suffered in the fire, Danny had two square chunks of skin missing from each thigh. 

On the day that the doctor had said, “Well, Detective, the rest is up to you.  You’re healing very well,” Steve had begun to sob the moment the doctor had left the room.

“Babe, it’s okay,” Danny soothed.  “It’s good news for a change.  Don’t cry.”  Steve all but collapsed into the chair beside Danny’s bed.  He was wracked with emotion.  “Aw babe, c’mere,” Danny soothed.  Steve just lay his forehead on the edge of the bed.

“I’m just—“ he began through his tears.  “So….so…relieved.”

Danny reached out his less bandaged right hand and rested it on Steve’s shoulder “You were scared I was going to die this whole time yeah?”

“Uh-huh.” Steve drew in a shaky breath and moved closer to Danny. “I want to hug you but I don’t know where to put my arms that wouldn’t hurt you.”

“You would never hurt me.”  Danny spoke quietly.  “I know that.” 

“I---god Danno—I—“

“I know babe.”

It was a long time before either of them spoke again.  The silence was full of the calm peace that speaks of mutual love and devotion and the kind of contentment that comes only when one knows they are loved wholly and without reservation.

Steve gently cupped Danny’s face in his large hands, allowing himself a moment before clearing his throat and mastering his emotions again.  “So—“

“Yeah babe?”

“I’m moving the kids in with me tomorrow.”

“Okay.  I guess Kono and Adam must be ready to have their house back?”

Steve laughed.  “Actually, they’ve loved having them.  I just think that since you are moving in with me, we ought to have the whole family together by the time you get home.”   

“Hey hey—slow down. When did we decide to live together?  Was I in some sort of drug induced….”

Steve looked horrified. “I thought—“ he stammered.  “You don’t have a house anymore Danny.  It’s been levelled and it was a rental and you can’t exactly look after yourself right now and the kids need some stability and to be with you and the dog misses you and you’re not going to be able to cook for them and—“ Steve stopped abruptly mid-ramble.

“And you just figured you would take over my life even more than you have already?” Danny teased.

“Oh shit Danno.  I’m sorry.  I just don’t want you to be alone and I—“

“And?”

Steve sighed deeply and looked meaningfully into Danny’s eyes. “And, I don’t want to be alone anymore.  I want you.  I want Gracie and Charlie and the stupid dog and—“

“And you’re in love with me.”  Danny looked smug despite the bandages covering most of his face.

“And I’m in love with you.  I don’t think I really understood that until you almost,” Steve couldn’t make himself say it. “—anyway, I’m pretty sure I’m ready to be gay for you.“

Danny laughed and then groaned in pain.  “Ow, damn it…stop making me laugh!  You’re a fucking menace, you know that?  I’m lying here all burned and lacerated and you say stupid shit like that?  Gay for me?  Who says shit like that?  How about we just love each other and not label it?”  

“Whatever you say, Danno.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you want me to continue this let me know? i'm not sure. It might end up as a 'verse or series?


	4. Truths be told

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. This one is unbeta'd. So let me know if you see any errors?

Danny had been in the hospital for more than a month before it was possible for Grace to visit.  Charlie was just not old enough to handle the sight of his injured father.  The little boy had already seen his fair share of hospitals and he was barely four.  He’d been kept largely in the dark about the extent of his dad’s physical trauma.  Everyone agreed that waiting until Danny was ready to leave the hospital would be less damaging in the long run.  Danny had to settle for nightly phone calls once his vocal chords had healed and Charlie had seemed content enough.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t the little boy who suffered the most emotional trauma.  The whole thing had seemed somewhat of an adventure with all the firetrucks and then camping out with Kono and Adam.  And he continued with nursery school, as soon as a new wardrobe had been purchased.  The routine and constant presence of his Daddy Stan had reassured and protected him.>  

Grace was an entirely different story.  Unbeknownst to Danny, Stan had reinitiated her therapy with the same post-traumatic stress specialist she had seen for a year after her kidnapping.  Steve broached the subject with Danny far more delicacy than anyone thought him capable of. 

Shortly after their conversation about the full extent of Danny’s injuries.  Steve had begun quietly explaining. “Danno?” 

  
“Babe?” Danny had smiled. “Why so serious?” Danny had tried his best to imitate the Joker, but his concerned eyes belied his attempt at humour.  


“Grace is having a hard time babe."

Danny was instantly on high alert but remained silent. 

“She’s having a lot of nightmares.”

“I guess that’s to be expected?”

“Kono can’t wake her up and…and…she finds her outside on the road sometimes.”

“Shit man, we need to get her some help.  Give me the phone.  I’ll call her right now.”

“She’s at school.  It’s the best place for her.  The therapist says ‘Structure, routine, and more structure are what she needs’.  She’s really freaked out about your injuries.  But I think she isn’t fully ready to see you.  The nightly chats are helping a lot though.”

Danny stared at his friend, tears streaming down his face and soaking the bandages.  “Therapist?” 

“Yeah D.  Stan is sending her to the same one she saw before….” 

Danny sniffled and Steve grabbed a tissue and held it up to his nose, “Blow, Danno,” he said matter of factly. 

“My poor baby girl,” Danny sobbed.  Steve dabbed at his partner’s eyes but continued his own calm demeanor. 

“So, this therapist helped her the last time and Stan has really stepped up.  With both the kids.” 

“He’s a good man.  God, what a fucked up mess! Again.”

Steve hadn’t bothered to tell Danny about the ridiculous phone call with Rachel except to lie and say, “She’s sending her love.”  In truth, the conversation had amounted to her threatening to bring the children to England where ‘at least they’d be safe from Daniel’s negligence’. Steve had reminded her that she’d all but signed her parental rights away so that she could run away with _Crispin._  “How would your new _husband_ feel about that I wonder? Now that he’s running for office?  I’m sure I could find somebody in London who would be most interested in your past transgressions?”  He’d even called out to Chin, “Hey Chin, can you get me the name of that reporter from the _Daily Mail_?” 

Her reply had been typically curt and venomous, “You know _Commander_?  For someone who prides himself on protecting his country and the good citizens of Hawaii?  You do a bloody wretched job looking after your so called ohana!”  With that, she’d hung up. 

“Well, fuck you very much,” Steve growled into the dead line.  Then laughed softly at his use of one of Danny’s ‘jerseyisms’.  “Trust me, I’m never letting him out of my sight again.” 

“Hey boss, you ever going to admit that you’re in love with the guy?” Jerry had said from the main office.  

“You are like some sort of enormous ninja brah.  Where the hell you’d come from?” 

“Waiting to check in with you and well, it’s kind of hard not to hear when you leave your door open and you’re shouting.” 

“True d’at,” chimed in Chin.  “You really need that number Steve? I’ve got it right here.” 

“Insurance policy, just in case.” Steve sighed and put the offered post it note into his pocket. 

“Getting back to how you feel about Danny?” Jerry interjected.  “Just saying brah, you’re in love with him.” 

“Another one of your many theories…” Steve grumbled. 

“Look man, it doesn’t take a CIA operative to figure out how far gone you are.  I could’ve figured it out blindfolded.  Just think you need to stop fooling yourself.” 

“I’m not gay Jerry.” Steve retorted. 

Chin spluttered on his coffee and moved quickly to clean up the spray from the computer table.   

Jerry snorted, “Right....  But you want to be, for Danny.”

 

  


 


End file.
